Review

by George Phillips, Aug 7th 2003

Animation on DVD

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE

Review:

Animation on DVD is Stone Bridge Press's latest submission to anime fandom, although it aims at more than simply anime fans. While anime certainly makes up a segment of all animation on DVD, this reference book includes entries from other styles of animation, as well as professional and amateur DVDs.

In one sense, Animation on DVD is a brilliant work, as it pulls together over 1,600 entries, including pictures of DVD artwork, release information and other information regarding the disc. In another sense, however, Animation on DVD is doomed to a very limited shelf life and general usability for most animation fans. As its name suggests, "Animation on DVD" contains more than just anime. Claymation, Stop-Animation, Australian and Russian professional and amateur films are just a sampling of the other, non-anime features one can find in this work. Leafing through, one can easily find anime titles scattered amongst the book, although they appear to make up only a minority of all the entries.

Unfortunately, although some may find a reference of animation released in America useful, this book reads very much like an old "Web Directory" book published in the early 1990s. While it does a remarkable job collecting and briefly reviewing many titles, many of the titles will fall out of print over the years, resulting in a book that, although filled with at-a-glance reviews, has already dated itself and will soon no longer be beneficial to most readers.

Each entry in "Animation on DVD" consists of a general synopsis of the DVD, along with some basic information that can assist finding the DVDs in stores and catalogs. However, in many instances the DVDs were either not provided, or arrived too late for a review in "Animation On DVD", and as such a number of titles are lacking even a basic overview of the title. Even when a summary is present, oftentimes it is bare-bones, only covering the most general aspects of the title. A similar gripe with Stonebridge's earlier Anime Encyclopedia, the reviews are simply too small to capture the interest of the reader. In the back of the work is a guide to adult animation, which naturally includes various adult anime titles. In this section anime's dominence is clearly visible, as not a page goes by without an anime DVD or two being reviewed.

For the typical anime fan, however, the book fails in two aspects. The first failure is that anime has not remained idle since the book's publication. In 2002 alone there were over five hundred anime DVDs released in America, and this year is certain to see further growth. The second failure is that if the non-anime reviews are ignored, there's very little actual anime content in the book that cannot be found elsewhere in a more convenient form, such as on the Internet or in any of the major anime magazines.

If you were thinking of picking this book up only for its Anime content... don't; there are enough free resources online that provide most, if not all of the same information Animation on DVD provides. If, on the other hand, you enjoy animation not specifically from Asia, this reference book provides a wide selection of information that may prove useful.

Grade:

Production Info:

Overall : B-

+ Lots of titles that should interest general anime fans− Oftentimes lackluster miniature reviews, if they're even present

Wow! Hundreds of millions of dollars are flowing into the anime industry thanks to streaming! Is any of that money going to the people who actually make anime? Justin gets into it.― Custom Gundam asked: With ANN recently reporting that Crunchyroll royalties to the Japanese industry exceed US $100 million and also the huge amount recieved from global companies like Netflix and Amazon and also the va...

Take a journey back in time with Daryl Surat, when many people were introduced to anime through heartwarming films like My Neighbor Totoro and Grave of the Fireflies. But what forgotten gems lie sleeping in this long-ago year?― Every so often, I get questions regarding what the value is in observing what works of popular culture remain worth watching, decades after their creation. But nearly three m...

This beloved 2000s megahit is the newest to get a live-action update to the big screen, now available on Netflix after its theatrical run in Japan. Theron Martin finds out if this movie can live up to fans' expectations.― Fullmetal Alchemist was one of the most popular and successful anime/manga franchises of the 2000s, so the only surprise surrounding this live-action adaptation might be that it di...

Citrus has turned a few heads with its incestuous twist on lesbian romance. We suss out whether this makes for a juicy love story or just sour pulp.― Citrus has turned a few heads with its incestuous twist on lesbian romance. This week in anime, Michelle and Steve suss out whether this makes for a juicy love story or just sour pulp. Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the participants in...

Hiromu Arakawa's pastoral drama about the highs and lows of farm living at an agricultural college is a far cry from Fullmetal Alchemist, but just as rewarding. Rebecca Silverman has the details.― Hiromu Arakawa's agricultural coming of age tale's anime adaptation reached English-speakers long before now, which makes it feel like a real treat to finally get the chance to read the manga. Based roughl...

Paul discovers a hidden gem in a surprisingly lazy package with this lovely slice-of-life comedy. Plus, all this week's new anime releases and a brand-new Shelf Obsessed!― I've been working on putting together a Star Wars model kit recently, and holy heck that process is easier if you have a decent set of the appropriate tools. It's almost a relaxing experience when you don't have to threaten each ...

This attempt at a gritty action spectacle falls prey to confusing storytelling and baffling editing. Theron Martin examines what went wrong.― In the Summer 2016 Preview Guide, I gave the first episode of this manga adaptation a middling score, saying that it isn't without potential. Rarely have I looked back at a review and been more perplexed at what I wrote, as on a second view that first episode ...

There sure are a lot of gambling anime, but what's it actually like to gamble in Japan? Does anime paint an accurate picture? Justin gets into it.― Jake asked: I have recently been watching Kakegurui Compulsive Gambler on Netflix and it has me curious about gambling in Japan. Gambling is in a ton of anime from Samurai Champloo to Kaiji. Mostly I am familiar with the basic odd even dice game as well...

Mike digs into the legendary and idiosyncratic career of Ryousuke Takahashi, from Cyborg 009 to Armored Trooper Votoms to Phoenix.― A few weeks back, the Right Stuf folks were running some sort of cheap-o blowout sale, and one of the items for sale, along with a still-absurdly-large quantity of Geneon and ADV Films DVD backstock, was this hat. Yep, for just one dollar, you could be the proud owner o...

This adaptation makes great use of its difficult source material to tell a trapped-in-a-game/escape room story worth digging into. Rebecca Silverman explains why.― If you've played the original game of Ao Oni (“blue demon”) or watched the series of anime shorts, Kenji Kuroda's novelization may come as a surprise. That's not a bad thing, though – Kuroda's reimagining of the source material not only c...